


Not in Love

by Minatu



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Minor Hanamura Chigusa/Matsuoka Gou, blind!Nitori, minor Matsuoka Rin/Mikoshiba Momotarou
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 15:49:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2657657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minatu/pseuds/Minatu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sousuke didn't have a name. There was no handwritten mark on his skin that held the secrets of his soulmate. There was nothing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not in Love

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by all those Soulmates AU fics with the names being somewhere on the person's body, yadda yadda. 
> 
> I really like writing soutori fics. Bite me.

Sousuke didn't have a name. It horrified him. Everyone had a name. But for some reason, he was born without one marked on him. He couldn't think of a reason why he didn't. His parents had always smiled piteously at him, and it angered Sousuke. Then he met Rin, who also didn't have a name. When they were a little older though, Rin's name appeared. The person had the worst handwriting Sousuke had ever seen, but Rin was just so proud of it that he would wear sleeveless clothes so that everyone could see the name scribbled on his bicep. Sousuke felt like it was a little unfair, sometimes even getting angry when Rin talked about " _Momotarou_ " too much. It was annoying,

By the time Sousuke was in high school, he had given all hope up of ever getting a name when suddenly, a blocky, obviously stamped name appeared on his collarbone. It didn't really make much sense to Sousuke at the time. Why wasn't handwritten? Why had it suddenly appeared? It was also in high school that Rin met his name, and the two started dating even though Momotarou was four years younger than Rin and were going to be separated almost immediately when Rin graduated and went to college.

Sousuke didn't dwell on the stamped name for too long, at least not as consciously as he used to. Sometimes he would idly write it on something, but he was usually quick about scribbling it out when he had realized what he just done with much embarrassment.

"I know that person," a girl said to Sousuke suddenly, motioning toward the name written on Sousuke's notebook. Her brown hair was swept up into a bun on the top of her head and she was smiling at him, "Do you want to meet him? A friend of mine knows him." Sousuke stared at her for a moment.

"Okay," he said hesitantly, "Sure." She smiled brightly at him, picking up her bag quickly.

"My name is Hanamura Chigusa, by the way," she told Sousuke, holding out a hand brazenly. Sousuke blinked back his surprise, shaking her had firmly. Chigusa smiled brilliant, "I like a man with a firm handshake." She said this in a matter-of-fact sort of tone without any implication of her actually imply that she found that hot or anything. Just that she appreciated a good handshake.

"Yamazaki Sousuke," he replied. Chigusa led Sousuke across campus to a large grassy spot where a couple people were standing. She waved widely, running over to them and tossing herself into the arms of a red haired girl Sousuke recognized from a long time ago, Matsuoka Gou, Rin's sister.

"Sousuke-kun?" Gou said in surprise as he approached. Sousuke didn't recognize the blonde or the brunette guys though.

"How's Rin?" Sousuke asked Gou automatically. She smiled slightly.

"He's still dating Momo-kun, if that's what you're wondering," Gou replied. Sousuke shrugged in response. He didn't really care about that. Chigusa smiled widely.

"Nagisa-kun, this guy wants to meet Nitori-san," she said to the blonde quickly. She didn't mention anything about the fact that Nitori was Sousuke's soul mate though Sousuke was pretty sure she knew that. 

"Ehh?" Nagisa responded, giving Sousuke a once over, "Why would you want to meet Ai-chan?" Sousuke stiffened as the brunette guy chuckled softly.

"Do you have Nitori-kun's name on you?" the other guy asked. Nagisa's eyes widened considerably.

"Is that true?!" Nagisa asked, "But Ai-chan can't write!" Sousuke looked away, blushing slightly.

"It's... It's a stamp," he replied in a soft voice. 

"Ohhh!" Nagisa marveled. He moved closer to Sousuke, "Can I see?" He started pushing Sousuke's sleeves up, and Sousuke stepped back quickly. Then pulled on the collar of his shirt to show the stamped name on his collarbone.

"Wow! It really is Ai-chan's!" 

"I told you!" Chigusa responded with a pout. Gou laughed nervously.

"You really shouldn't search people for their names, Nagisa-kun..." the brunette guy said. Nagisa pouted at the other, and Sousuke watched on like he was blocked off by a glass wall. Then Nagisa turned back to Sousuke with a pointed expression.

"So you really want to meet Ai-chan?" Nagisa asked with his hands on his hips.

"Yeah," Sousule responded. Nagisa nodded then told Sousuke to follow him. He ended up riding with Nagisa in a car driven by the other guy, who Sousuke found out was Makoto. Sousuke was brought to a small white house. When they stepped up to the door, Nagisa whipped out a key and let them in with a shout, "I'M HOME!" 

"Nagisa?" a small voice called from another room. The voice was carefully spoken, a moment later, a guy with red-rimmed glasses appeared wearing an apron, "Aiichirou-kun and I were just-" He blinked, "Who are you?" Makoto smiled gently and picked up the white and brown cat that had appeared suddenly. It purred happily, leaning into Makoto's arms.

"I'm Yamazaki Sousuke," Sousuke answered stiffly.

"He's got Nitori's name!" Nagisa added cheerfully. The blue haired individual pushed his glasses up swiftly.

"Nice to meet you, Yamazaki-san. My name is Ryuugazaki Rei," he replied. Sousuke nodded in acknowledgment when a guy who was just a little shorter than Nagisa, which made him at least a foot shorter than Sousuke, appeared.

"Did I hear my name? Also, Rei-kun, the oven is going off." Rei immediately ran in the direction of the kitchen and Sousuke was finally able to actually step into the house. Nagisa waved to Sousuke and followed after Rei.

"Hello, my name is Yamazaki Sousuke. Nice to finally meet you, Nitori-san," Sousuke said politely. Nitori moved his head slightly, looking up toward Sousuke.

"Nice to meet you too," he replied hesitantly, "Are you a friend of Nagisa's? Did he put you up to asking me out?"

"Uhh... no?" Sousuke replied with furrowed eyebrows, "Why would he?" 

"He didn't...?" Nitori sounded surprised, "Sorry. He's been hunting down Sousukes ever since I told him that was the name I had."

"Oh," Sousuke responded awkwardly. He didn't really know what to say to that.

"So why are you here then?" Nitori asked, frowning slightly.

"Because I've had your name on me for almost four years now, and they seem to think you're the Nitori it's talking about," Sousuke replied, reaching up to the back of his neck nervously.

"Seriously? Is it a little stamp?" Nitori inquired, excitement slipping into his tone.

"Yeah... why is that?" Sousuke asked. Nitori blinked back his surprise.

"I was born blind," he answered after a moment. Sousuke swallowed, turning red in embarrassment.

"O-oh... I'm-"

"Don't you dare. Just because I can't see doesn't mean I'm unable to move around and operate independently," Nitori cut Sousuke off sharply, "So... you really have my name on you somewhere?" Nitori sounded so hopeful. Sousuke smiled slightly.

"Yeah, Nagisa-san can attest to that," he responded after a moment.

"Wow," Nitori said wistfully, "I never thought that you actually existed." Sousuke blushed.

"I know how you feel," he replied. Nitori laughed.

"That's so weird, huh?" he said thoughtfully, "The only instance of a blind person finding any sort of love that I was aware of was that one TV show that got cancelled... _Growing Up Fischer_ , I think?" Sousuke shrugged.

"Never heard of it."

"Figures," Nitori replied. He smiled despite himself, and at some point, Sousuke ended up sitting on the couch and just talking to Nitori for hours. He would often forget that Nitori was blind until he would ask him particular questions that would remind him of this fact.

"What do you look like?" Nitori asked softly, even though most of the words really wouldn't mean much to him.

"Uh, I have black hair and blue eyes... I'm actually taller than you," Sousuke attempted, though he wasn't really sure of how to describe himself. He'd never done it before, "Your name sits close to my heart, practically just above it..." 

"Hmm..." Nitori hummed, a small smile on his lips. Sousuke watched him wordlessly. He could see himself falling in love with the guy next to him. In fact, he wanted to. He wanted to know what it was like, to be in love with someone else. The names had always seemed to work out flawlessly for the people around him, and Sousuke had always been so jealous... he really wanted this experience.

"You should take me on a date," Nitori suggested with a grin.

"Uh huh... and where should I take you?" Sousuke asked, raising an eyebrow. Nitori pondered this for a moment.

"How about coffee? Coffee would be good," he answered with a sigh, "I love the smell of it." Sousuke nodded.

"Alright. Coffee it is," he agreed. Nitori reached over, his fingers bumping into Sousuke's knee.

"Hold my hand," he said softly, "I want to make sure you're real." Sousuke smiled, curling his fingers around Nitori's smaller hand. Nitori sighed softly. 

"You seem to be real." Sousuke felt pretty real, if that was any consolation. However, Nitori had seemed to have floated off to another place within his mind, cherishing the physical contact in silence. So Sousuke just sat with him, taking the time to familiarize himself with Nitori's appearance. He was beautiful, and Sousuke couldn't believe how lucky he had gotten.

**.**

On Saturday, Sousuke picked Nitori up for their date. They held hands during the whole brief walk to the coffee shop. Nitori's service dog, Nickle, would notice things that Sousuke didn't. Nitori found it helpful that Sousuke could tell him what they were stopping for though. Their entire date went quite well, and Sousuke felt like he was learning something new every time he was with Nitori because despite his inability to see, Nitori was incredibly smart. He once rambled on about the fact that even though they were holding hands they were never actually touching, and it was really a bunch of science mumbo-jumbo that went right over Sousuke's head. Though he didn't mind listening to Nitori talk about those things. Probably because he just enjoyed hearing Nitori's voice.

Their dates often lasted longer than intended too. So sometimes Nagisa would call to check on them because he would worry. Sousuke found that Nagisa and Nitori had grown up together and acted like brothers practically. 

"Call I call you by your first name?" Nitori asked suddenly. Sousuke looked down at Nitori, blushing.

"Yeah, go for it," he responded. Nitori smiled, staring straight ahead.

"Okay, Sousuke-kun," he said in a soft tone. The blush on Sousuke's face spread down his cheeks and straight to his heart.

"Wow, uh, that sounds nice," Sousuke replied, trying to be nonchalant about it and failing miserably. Nitori giggled in amusement.

"You have to do it too, Sousuke-kun," he said, repeating Sousuke's name because it was a little unfamiliar. He wanted to get used to saying it.

"Aiichirou-kun," Sousuke muttered after a moment. Nitori stared at Sousuke with a sparkling expression.

"Say it again," he said breathlessly.

"Aiichirou-kun," Sousuke replied, a little louder this time. Nitori was practically shining.

"You can never call me 'Nitori' again, oh my god," he told Sousuke. Sousuke was a little embarrassed by this.

"Alright," he responded. Nitori grinned, bumping his shoulder against Sousuke's.

"Wonderful," he smiled. Sousuke tucked Nitori's hand into his arm and led him down the sidewalk. Gray specks of snow falling from the sky.

**.**

"So... how are things for you and Nitori-kun going?" Chigusa asked Sousuke after class. Sousuke shrugged slightly. Chigusa raised an eyebrow at this as Sousuke tossed his backpack over one shoulder, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Pretty well, I guess," Sousuke answered after a moment. Chigusa pouted slightly. She was wearing a band of blue flowers in her bun that day.

"Both of you are really cryptic, you know," Chigusa pointed out, her arms crossed beneath her chest, "Tell me something more than that."

"Nah," Sousuke responded, waving to her. He walked out of the building with Chigusa hot on his heels.

"Hey! Does that mean you guys are in love?" she asked, raring for some details. Sousuke frowned slightly.

"No," he answered, "We're not in love."

"Huh?" Chigusa blinked, "But you guys have been dating for three months now..." She seemed genuinely surprised, "You even hold hands and stuff!" 

"We don't kiss," Sousuke responded, "Or anything past hand holding. We're just getting to know each other." Chigusa stared at Sousuke like he was some sort of strange creature.

"Still?"

"Yup," Sousuke replied nonchalantly. She really didn't understand those two... Everyone else seemed to fall together like two pieces of one picture, but with Sousuke and Nitori, it was so slow, as if they had all the time in the world just to fall in love and appreciate each other, which was nice and all, but Chigusa just didn't understand it.

Later, Chigusa decided to ask Gou about it.

"Well, we were friends for a long time before we found out... so I guess it's similar," Gou told Chigusa gently. Chigusa nodded, leaning into Gou.

"It's just... weird," she responded. Gou sighed.

"I don't think so," she said thoughtfully, "Not for them, at least. Everyone falls in love differently, after all."

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts, kudos. Always appreciated.
> 
> ~Minatu
> 
> P.S.  
> I think Nitori would be terrible at naming things, hence the name Nickle for his dog.


End file.
